‘That’s not fair!’ Trump singles out Germany over Nato contributions as he imposes tariffs

The US President plans to implement the 25 per cent levy on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminium on the world except for Mexico and Canada and possibly the UK.

He said the nations spending more on defence would be better positioned to avoid a trade tariff.

He said: “We have some friends and some enemies where we have been tremendously taken advantage of over the years on trade and on military.

“If you look at Nato, where Germany pays one per cent and we are paying 4.2 per cent of a much bigger GDP, that’s not fair.

“Nato countries, some owe billions and billions of dollars.

“Defence is also a part of trade. To a certain extent they go hand in hand.”

The UK is one of only half a dozen Nato countries that meets the requirement of spending two per cent of GDP on defence, the others are the US, Poland, Estonia, Greece and Romania.

When the US President met Chancellor Merkel for the first time, he criticised Germany on Twitter for owing “vast sums of money to Nato”.

Last year, Chancellor Merkel said Germany had increased its defence spending by eight per cent last year and was committed to reaching Nato’s goal of two per cent by 2024.

Earlier this year, the head of the US army Mark Esper said he wants Germany to “live up to its commitments” saying it was important for all countries to spend two per cent or else it weakens the alliance of Nato.

The President believes the levy would help to “protect the American worker” and “restore prosperity” to the US economy.

The US president also said: “We have to protect and build our steel and aluminium industries while at the same time showing great flexibility and cooperation towards those that are real friends and treat us fairly on both trade and the military.

“I have a right to go up or down with tariffs depending on the country and I’ll have a right to drop out countries or add countries. I just want fairness.”

The UK’s international trade secretary Liam Fox branded the steel tariffs “absurd” but remained confident that these would not hit the UK, given the close security alliance.